Early '80s fantasy playsets

[El Hombre Nuclear]

I just came across this amazing blog post recently, and thought I'd mention it here, in case anyone else is into these things:

http://fantasytoysoldiers.blogspot.com/2015/04/22-1980s-fantasy-playsets-ranked-by.html

Pretty much every one of them is covered in that post, and the blog also has individual entries on all of them, as well as on a few smaller items from the same era. Incredible work overall, I'd say.

Personally, I had the original Dragonriders of the Styx playset that sort of kicked the whole thing off, as well as a couple of the others back then. But most of these have become very obscure over the years. Some of that old-school fantasy artwork is to die for...

It's interesting to note that the larger D&D/Conan-inspired '80s fantasy toy wave soldiered on until around '88 (I think the Willow figures were the last notable line), but that these older style small-scale playsets were released exclusively during the earlier part of the boom, circa '81-'84. It was sort of the last gasp of traditional Marx-style playsets in general.

[Werewolf]

Awesome stuff. I used to have that Dragon Riders of Styx playset. The only thing I have left from it is the green dragon.

[JWLJN]

I never had any of these, but man, do they look fun. Can you imagine having a huge room with all of them set up in one giant world?

-J\/\/

[LordMudd]

I like the Fortress of the Wizard King. Almost looks like it would work with 4" figures.


CCC.

[Falstaff13]

I had the Sword & Sorcery set (labelled small here)--it was a very basic castle set with the knight & wizard equivalent of green army men, but I loved the catapults, and I know I got hours of play out of them.

[Spawn67]

Thank You for posting this! My favorite playset of all time is the Dragonriders playset. I still have the same one I got for Xmas in 1982 and still have most of the pieces. Over the years I have seen some sets mint in box on ebay and was thinking about getting another one.

[Earth 2 Chris]

I would have overlooked these as "generic" when I was a kid (I was a MOTU snob), but now I think they look like a lot of fun, and very imaginative. Plenty of MOTU influence in several of them, especially the packaging on that last one.

Chris

[Ninersphan1]

Am I wrong or is the number one set on this list, The Fantasy Fortress a reworking/reuse of the Guns of Navarone Military play set that used to be in almost every wish book in the late seventies. Sure looks like the same mold to my eyes.

[Spawn67]

I also had the Forest of Doom playset. I remember it came with a carrying case. I still have a couple pieces from it but most of it is long gone but as I said before I got the dragonriders playset that Xmas which I still have most of.
I don't know if anyone else remembers the dragonriders also had individual packs with about 20 pieces or so.

[El Hombre Nuclear]

I would have overlooked these as "generic" when I was a kid (I was a MOTU snob), but now I think they look like a lot of fun, and very imaginative. Plenty of MOTU influence in several of them, especially the packaging on that last one.

Chris

That box art on the Durham set isn't the only MOTU influence noticeable there. Check out the kid on the "Dragon Crest" box. I believe that particular haircut was known on the street as the "Prince Adam".

[El Hombre Nuclear]

Am I wrong or is the number one set on this list, The Fantasy Fortress a reworking/reuse of the Guns of Navarone Military play set that used to be in almost every wish book in the late seventies. Sure looks like the same mold to my eyes.

Yeah, the same thought crossed my mind at first. But I took a closer look at pictures of the two mountain pieces, and you can see that there are quite a few differences. However, a commenter on the blog mentioned finding a white version of the exact same piece that Durham used in an unidentified traditional military playset. Now, here's where it gets a bit interesting. Durham was a company that made lots of knock-offs and rack toys, and they even got involved in a big legal dust-up with Tomy about copying stuff around that time. I believe they were located in NYC, and this playset was released in '83, just after Mego, who was located right next door, went under. So, is it possible that they got a hold of some of Mego's leftover Marx-mold stuff, and that's the real origin of this piece? It's also worth mentioning that the guy who runs that blog, who is obviously the foremost expert on these sets and has been diligently tracking them for many years, had never seen or even heard of the Durham set until one just suddenly popped up on eBay last year. So, it seems there are some mysteries surrounding this set that have yet to be solved.

[El Hombre Nuclear]

I also had the Forest of Doom playset. I remember it came with a carrying case. I still have a couple pieces from it but most of it is long gone but as I said before I got the dragonriders playset that Xmas which I still have most of.
I don't know if anyone else remembers the dragonriders also had individual packs with about 20 pieces or so.

Yeah, I definitely remember those. He's got a huge collection of them:

http://fantasytoysoldiers.blogspot.com/2014/09/dfc-dragonriders-of-styx-bags.html

They also released some interesting carded versions:

http://fantasytoysoldiers.blogspot.com/2014/09/dfc-dragonriders-of-styx-cards.html

Really, anyone who's interested in this stuff should go through the whole blog. There's all kinds of fascinating info to be found. For instance, I never knew that DFC actually had to remove the faces (!) from their serpent-monster figures (gloriously pictured on the "Dungeons of Castlelon" set, which i actually had as a kid) because they were exact copies of the "Naga" from the AD&D Monster Manual. Or check out the crazy "roll out" Helm Toy set, where they somehow tried to cash in on the fantasy craze by using miniatures of the '60s Colorform Aliens! Best of all, read up on Toyco (yes, seriously), a Canadian knock-off producer that sounds like the kind of thing that Vic Machismo Sr. might have been involved in.

[Klosterheim]

I just came across this amazing blog post recently, and thought I'd mention it here, in case anyone else is into these things:

http://fantasytoysoldiers.blogspot.com/2015/04/22-1980s-fantasy-playsets-ranked-by.html

Pretty much every one of them is covered in that post, and the blog also has individual entries on all of them, as well as on a few smaller items from the same era. Incredible work overall, I'd say.

Personally, I had the original Dragonriders of the Styx playset that sort of kicked the whole thing off, as well as a couple of the others back then. But most of these have become very obscure over the years. Some of that old-school fantasy artwork is to die for...

It's interesting to note that the larger D&D/Conan-inspired '80s fantasy toy wave soldiered on until around '88 (I think the Willow figures were the last notable line), but that these older style small-scale playsets were released exclusively during the earlier part of the boom, circa '81-'84. It was sort of the last gasp of traditional Marx-style playsets in general.

Oh, my goodness!

Thanks so much for posting this!

Now I know where those winged creatures came from.

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The Fantasy Fortress looks like a slightly different mold to me, a sideways squished version.

Naverone was more centered, buy maybe the floors were re-used, I think.

[Fitski]

Good find! I have never seen a few of these!